Surrogate measures of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes: Are conventional indicators adequate?

The problem of alcohol-related highway fatalities has led a majority of states to enact new legislative countermeasures. Because few states consistently collect information on alcohol involvement in fatal crashes, the evaluation of the effectiveness of these countermeasures has relied on surrogate measures of alcohol involvement. Using data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS), this study addresses the following questions: (a) Which of the several surrogate measures used are most likely to reflect alcohol involvement in fatal crashes? and (b) Do the trends in these surrogate measures provide an accurate appraisal of the true trends in alcohol-involved fatal crashes? The authors conclude that nighttime fatal crashes are the best surrogate measure of alcohol-involved crashes, but that surrogate measures may not accurately mirror trends in alcohol-involved fatal crashes over time, particularly in small states or over short durations. All drivers in fatal crashes should be given blood alcohol level (BAL) tests to most accurately assess the effects of drunk driving countermeasures.     

Energy use and allocation in the Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius: are stored seeds a buffer?

Limitation of a necessary resource can affect an organism’s investment into growth and reproduction. Pogonomyrmex harvester ants store vast quantities of seeds in their nests that are thought to buffer the ants when external resources are not available. This research uses externally controlled food availability to examine how resource shortage affects colony investment, resource use, and resource distribution within the nest. Colonies were either starved or supplemented with resources for 2 months, beginning at the onset of reproductive investment and ending immediately before nuptial flights. Fed colonies invested more in overall production, proportionally more in reproduction relative to growth and in female reproductives relative to males. Stored seeds in starved colonies did not buffer production in this study. However, worker fat reserves were depleted in starved colonies, indicating that fat reserves fuel the spring bout of production. In starved colonies, worker fat reserves were depleted evenly throughout the nest, distributing the burden of starvation on all workers regardless of caste and age. A reallocation of diploid eggs into female workers rather than reproductives best explains the observed change in sex ratio investment between treatments. The redistribution of resources into growth relative to reproduction in starved colonies is consistent with life history theory for long-lived organisms, switching from current to future reproduction when resources are scarce.     

Sources and factors controlling the disposal of biodegradable municipal solid waste in urban and rural areas of Cyprus

An inventory of sources of biodegradable municipal soil waste (BMSW) was constructed for urban and rural areas in the EU accession region of Cyprus. Composition analysis was performed on source-separated BMSW collected from households in the rural Ergates Community and an urban area within the Agglanjia Municipality. The data were statistically scrutinized to identify the main factors influencing the quantities of BMSW disposed by urban and rural communities in Cyprus. The results were extrapolated to predict the quantities and types of BMSW disposed by the entire communities. Significantly more BMSW was disposed in the urban area compared to the rural community due to lower diversion rates for green waste and the disposal of food waste from commercial sources. The quantity of food waste collected from households was influenced by socio-economic (household size, income, percentage of children) and behavioural (feeding of food waste to domestic animals, consuming processed 'ready' food) factors, whereas garden size, the type of vegetation, the reuse of trimmings and home composting were the main factors controlling the disposal of green waste.     

Evaluating betterment projects

In the past decade Australia has experienced a series of large‐scale, severe natural disasters including catastrophic bushfires, widespread and repeated flooding, and intense storms and cyclones. There appears to be a prima facie case for rebuilding damaged infrastructure to a more disaster resilient (that is, to ‘betterment’) standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate a consistent and readily applied method for advancing proposals for the betterment of essential public assets, which can be used by governments at all levels to determine the net benefits of such proposals. Case study results demonstrate that betterment investments have the potential to deliver a positive economic return across a range of asset types and regions. Results, however, are highly sensitive to underlying assumptions; in particular the probability of the natural disaster affecting the infrastructure in the absence of betterment.     

The role of natural disaster in individual and relational adjustment in Sri Lankan mothers following the 2004 tsunami

The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between maternal mental health distress symptoms, including depression and post‐traumatic stress disorder, the extent to which the presence of a child's disaster‐related physical health problem(s) have interfered with daily functioning, and family cohesion over time among Sri Lankan mothers who survived the tsunami on 26 December 2004. Study variables were measured using a self‐report questionnaire administered approximately four months after the event and three years later in summer 2008. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted. Path analysis was employed to assess the relationships between the key variables over time and the correlations in the study variables at each time point. Among other findings, the results of the path analysis indicated that post‐traumatic stress symptom distress four months after the disaster significantly predicted variance in family cohesion three years later. Clinical and empirical research implications are presented and discussed.     

Threatened and Endangered Species: At What Cost? The Corps of Engineers Looks at Expenditures and Priorities

Current political conditions, primarily budgetary uncertainty, and the related reluctance to make funding commitments for future generations, have raised questions about the costs of conservation and environmental protection that have not previously been asked. As Federal investments are scrutinized and budgets become ever more constrained, the costs associated with environmental requirements could begin to be of greater importance and to influence decisions on Federal projects. In response to concerns about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) spending under the Endangered Species Act (P.L. 93-205) (ESA), a limited investigation was performed to determine the accuracy of reported Corps expenditures. The investigation showed that, for particular groups of species, actual conservation costs for threatened and endangered species may be twice the amounts previously reported in the annual ESA expenditure reporting to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In light of this finding, the Corps has sought a means to provide more accurate and consistent reporting of expenditures for addressing threatened and endangered species. A Species Costs Template (template) has been developed to identify the types and magnitude of costs related to the ESA and to counteract the impediments (legal, institutional, and practical) to underreporting costs. The template will be used by the Corps for reporting ESA costs beginning with Fiscal Year 2005 (FY05) (reported in January 2006). Five broad categories of expenditures (effects determination costs, ESA protection and conservation costs, equipment costs, opportunity costs, and other species costs) are identified by the template.     

氢氧化镧掺杂氧化铝去除水体磷酸盐性能研究

为有效去除水体中的磷酸盐,采用沉淀沉积方法合成了氢氧化镧〔La(OH)₃〕掺杂氧化铝(Al₂O₃)的吸附材料La(OH)₃(X)/Al₂O₃〔X表示吸附剂中的La(OH)₃质量含量〕,并对其吸附磷酸盐的性能进行研究. 结果表明:①Al₂O₃和La(OH)₃是吸附剂中磷酸盐的主要结合位点. ②磷酸盐初始浓度为50 mg/L时,La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃吸附剂在初始阶段吸附较快,且在200 min左右达到吸附平衡. La(OH)₃(X)/Al₂O₃吸附剂对磷酸盐的吸附量随着La(OH)₃负载量的提高而升高,其吸附等温线符合Langmuir模型拟合. La(OH)₃(7)/Al₂O₃、La(OH)₃(13)/Al₂O₃、La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃和La(OH)₃(27)/Al₂O₃对磷酸盐的最大吸附量可分别达到25.32、27.40、43.10和53.76 mg/g (以P计). 这表明La(OH)₃掺杂Al₂O₃后为磷酸盐提供更多的活性位点,有效提高了磷酸盐的吸附容量. ③La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃对磷酸盐的吸附量随pH的升高而降低,共存阴离子影响试验表明,La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃对磷酸盐具有较高的吸附选择性. ④经过5次吸附-脱附循环后,La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃表现出稳定的吸附和再生性能,对实际水体磷酸盐的去除试验结果表明其可用于实际水体中磷酸盐的去除. 研究显示,La(OH)₃(19)/Al₂O₃的磷酸盐吸附速率快、吸附容量高、吸附选择性高,具有潜在的应用价值.      

Characterizing a Major Urban Stream Restoration Project: Nine Mile Run (Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, USA)

Urban stream restoration continues to be used as an ecological management tool, despite uncertainty about the long‐term sustainability and resilience of restored systems. Evaluations of restoration success often focus on specific instream indicators, with limited attention to the wider basin or parallel hydrologic and geomorphic process. A comprehensive understanding of urban stream restoration progress is particularly important for comparisons with nonurban sites as urban streams can provide substantial secondary benefits to urban residents. Here, we utilize a wide range of indicators to retrospectively examine the restoration of Nine Mile Run, a multi‐million dollar stream restoration project in eastern Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA). Examination of available continuous hydrological data illustrates the high cost of failures to incorporate the data into planning and adaptive management. For example, persistent extreme flows drive geomorphic degradation threatening to reverse hydrologic connections created by the restoration and impact the improved instream biotic communities. In addition, human activities associated with restoration efforts suggest a positive feedback as the stream restoration has focused effort on the basin beyond the reach. Ultimately, urban stream restoration remains a potentially useful management tool, but continued improvements in post‐project assessment should include examination of a wider range of indicators.